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Fort D'Auvergne 20th Aug 2001
Map Ref: 656,477
Tide: HW 8.17am (11.4m)
Weather Forecast: Bright and sunny with westerly wind F3
Picked Chris up around 5.45am and drove into town … parked in the Car Park off Route Du Forte and made our way once more to the Fort D'Auvergne rock….. tackled up, and started putting ground bait out straight away….. managed to start fishing by 6.30am…
Again took up positions, so that Chris could fish off the front, whilst I was fishing behind / to the right hand side of him…..
Chris was in almost straight away .. and whilst not a very large fish at all (only about 8”), it was none the less a fish .. unfortunately it fell off when he tried to lift it :-(
6.55am .. Chris gives a shout, and from the look of his rod, its obvious he’s hit home ….. but after a couple of lunges the fish is off :-(
7.20am …… start to daydream with the bobbing waves and early morning light off the water…. I was starting to feel a little left out, and allowed my float to drift in towards the rock s on the right hand side of us … whoosh … down when the float, and in an instant I’d lifted the rod in a powerful striking response .. my initial reaction was one of disappointment, as it felt like I’d snagged into the rocks .. that was until the rocks moved off towards the sea, making my fixed spool scream in protest at having to give line!!!!
It proves not to be that difficult to bring the fish up and onto the surface …. A really nice looking mullet …… the lull doesn’t last, and the fish starts to awaken, to show it’s true fighting potential …… run, after deep powerful run, rips the line from the fixed spool…. As time passes, and whilst applying a constant, but yielding pressure, the fish slowly tires… indeed I managed to bring it into Chris so he could net it …. Which we seemed to do, almost on the first attempt….. still after the 10 minutes it took to get to that point, and the constant fear of loosing the fish, I felt completely drained…… got it up onto the flat section of the rock, measured it (nice 20” thick-lipped mullet), and came in at a PB of 3.1/4lb ……
....took it down to the beach and released it from the foot wall …… have to say, I felt jolly pleased with myself…..
7.45am .. well they sat pride comes before a fall, and being so puffed-up with my latest conquest, I guess I deserved it ….. pushed a little too hard on the cast…. Some sort of line twist occurred, and as it wrapped itself around the lower rod ring, the line snapped ….. the float and terminal tackle went sailing onwards …… luckily the prevailing wind, and rising tide, brought the float back to within casting range …. And with a couple of attempts Chris managed to snag the loose line, and retrieve the whole lot for me …… for which I can only say thank you….
8.15am …. Chris gives a start, and shows that he’s in once again….. it’s not a large fish, but still very determined that it doesn’t want to be caught …… looks like a mullet in the order of a 1.1/2lb or so, but after about 5 minutes, manages to throw the hook … yet another lost fish for Chris!!!!!
9.15am …. My float bobs … just for an instant, but gets a solid strike from me all the same … it’s a hit …. Not a big fish, and we soon have it landed … it’s only an 11” golden grey, but I’d still rather net it, than have the flurocarbon hook length snap…. Take a picture, and pop it back with the aid of the landing net…
9.25am …. The float slides under again ….. bang, into another fish .. again not big, but still puts up a reasonable fight, zooming off this way and that …. But soon tires, and again we land it….. A small 14” thick-lipped mullet, and comes in at 1.1/4lb …… again pop it back as soon as I’ve taken a snap….
10.25am …… yup .. float goes under ….. I strike, and again I’m into a fish … think Chris believes I’ve got a diver out there putting them on for me….. anyway .. this is some what better, and takes me a good ten minutes to calm it down enough to get it to the surface, and allow Chris to net it for me…… 17” thick-lipped mullet, and just a shade over 2lb…. Again take a photo and return it……
By 10.45am the tide has dropped, and it proves impossible to continue, so we pack-up …. However as the day is still young, we decide to go and have a look around the Harbour and the Piers for potential spots …… but first drop in to see Eddie in JFS Sports to let him know how I’ve been getting on since he kindly took me out the previous week, and also to see if he could give us advice or ideas on potential spots around the vicinity……
After chatting to Eddie we walked across to La Collette over the seaward boulder field ….. not easy, but there may be some potential to fish off the outflow about half way along for bass perhaps, but with the boulders being loose in places, and with some sizable gaps and drops between them, we decided that really it was probably better left alone, unless accessing it in daylight……
Walked back to the car, and drove round to the Tanker Berth and the Yacht marina …
Whilst the Tanker Berth has a good reputation, it looked rather hazardous with its shear bolder sides, made even more fun with the slippery weed all over them ….. looked at a number of vantage points but our gut feeling was that on safety grounds probably best left for high water if we wanted to fish for mullet here….
We went on, and looked at some potential spots on the outside wall of the marina (you can’t fish inside), and indeed there was a chap fishing for mullet just behind the main outer wall, down on the boulders….
Looked at some of the floating pontoon areas inside the harbour, but either access was probably going to be an issue, or a limited amount of time fishing with parts of the harbour drying out during low water…. Eddie had told us about fishing from the New North Quay, but I didn’t much like the thought of fishing so high up …. Instead Chris suggested having a look at the Albert Pier … not so much for mullet, but more as a general fishing spot ….. stopped off about half way, in front of the foot passenger terminal, and had a really gorgeous beef sandwich… uuuumm
Anyway, got to the end … and there fishing below were two lads on a set of steps …..
asked Chris about this, and he said he’d fished there on a couple of occasions …. To me it looked just right for mullet, told Chris, and started planning to use it as an alternative to the rock at Fort D'Auvergne, at low water, or neap tides….